A YOUNG walker is celebrating raising an incredible £25,000 for a mental health charity ahead of her gruelling 128-mile walk.
Alba Stogden began walking for charity in 2021 after seeing the impact mental health had on dad Grant, and has since completed 11 walks – the latest being an 84-mile hike along the England Coastal Path.
Alba from Pontefract, West Yorkshire will now begin her latest 128-mile walk alongside mum Sophie from Withernsea, East Yorkshire to Hunstanton, Norfolk on Wednesday.
The eight-year-old has raised various amounts for a slew of different charities including Samaritans, Place2Be and SHOUT – with her latest fundraising efforts going to Mind Leeds.
Alba’s dad Grant, 29, began to struggle with his mental health when Alba was just two months old, eventually being admitted into psychiatric wards and being the inspiration behind Alba’s many walks.
Alba, who began to struggle with her own mental health at five-years-old, was then deregistered from school and instead homeschooled by her parents.
Alba currently walks alongside mum Sophie, 29, with the duo recently achieving a 84 mile-long journey across the England Coastal Path, finishing at Berwick on 28 February after a six day stretch of walking.
The family posted on social media on Friday, writing: “Guys. She’s gone over £25,000 total.
“And just a smidge away from this month’s target for the Hull and East Yorkshire Mind”.
The post received dozens of likes and comments as many expressed their delight in seeing Alba’s feat.
Sarah Colley wrote: “Amazing achievement. It’s so lovely to see your adventures.
“So much learning and wonder and smiles and kindness, and memory making. Just as childhood should be. Enjoy the next adventure.”
Sandra Exley commented: “Brilliant job, Alba, and supporting network. You’re just amazing.”
Sue Brown Perry said: “Little star.”
Donna McNally wrote: “Well done Alba. Such a great achievement and contribution to the world at such a young age, very inspiring.”
Speaking today, Sophie said: “Growing up, Alba watched her daddy kind of spiral almost when she was three-months-old. He needed psychiatric help and ended up in hospital for the first time.
“Why she does it is linked to him and helping people like him – just to change the conversation around mental health because when she thinks of mental health she thinks of her daddy and the human behind it, not the stigma behind it.
“Growing up as a toddler and a young child there were many psychiatric admissions for her dad, my husband. They did bedtimes via FaceTime and would have Christmases in hospital ward rooms.
“We did the supervised visits, we did all of it. He had a very long admission of two and a half years at one point which was a struggle for all of us but equally didn’t break either of them or their bond.
“If anything, it grew their bond even stronger but also throughout that time many people struggled with mental health.
“She met with various different professionals from psychiatrists to psychologists and everybody in-between.
“They do amazing jobs and she’s always had this voice for sharing awareness and has just been this huge voice in such a quietly spoken subject which has only grown as she’s grown.
“So when she was struggling with her own mental health when she was about five and we decided to deregister from school, we did some community projects and things to kind of build her back up again and really just spend time watching her grow, feel safe and happy again.
“When she was six, it was me who discovered the Samaritans fundraiser and I just suggested it to her.
“She loves the outside and she has this big mission for raising awareness and they come hand in hand and she jumped at the idea which kind of spirals from there to where we are now.
“Her last walk, we finished on 28 February. She actually ended up with scarlet fever so we had to come home a day early but she still made it to Berwick.
“She started on 22 February and we made it to Berwick on 28 February. She walked 84.2 miles and 250,120 Alba steps.
“Officially, it should have ended at the border including Holy Island on the Wednesday but because she walked the final four days quite poorly and, by the second to last day, was very poorly, we made it to Berwick which was a huge achievement in itself and we finished the walk there.
“She does want to go back and touch the border and walk around Holy Island so we’ll make that day trip at some stage soon but she’s still recovering and on antibiotics at the minute which just makes this walk even more incredible, given how hard it must be on some of those days.
“It was a great but challenging walk, some days with more than 20 miles, other days we barely saw a soul, another day we walked through a village where we were greeted with open arms and welcomed by all the local pubs and cafes and gathered so many donations.
“It was just a really great, challenging adventure and Alba just had the best time exploring new places, meeting new people, going in the sea and spending time outside in her happy place.”
Speaking to Alba, she said: “I love walking but I do the fundraising walks for people like my daddy. To raise mental health awareness and to make people smile.
“I like to stop and chat with people along my walks too. I’ve helped lots of different mental health charities now and this year is so big.
“I’m helping lots of Mind branches and doing lots of super big walks which is super exciting. One big adventure!”
